Russian Ark

2002

Russia/Germany

1h 36min

U

Directed by: Alexander Sokurov

Written by: Anatoli Nikiforov, Alexander Sokurov

Cast: Sergei Dontsov

Language: Russian

Sokurov (Mother and Son) has always been a formalist par excellence. In this look at modern Russian history, Sokurov's camera passes through one room to another in a vast St Petersburg museum as history unfolds before us without a cut. Like the earlier one-take wonder, Mike Figgis' Timecode, this might achieve little dramatically; there's a limited emotional range at work here, as we follow the unseen director and his camera into different eras. Nevertheless, it's undeniably a seminal work.